David Norris out of the presidential race – what a shame for Ireland

We Missed The Boat

Let’s fast forward 5 years and presume David Norris’ election went as well as we all presumed (or feared) it would. Ireland has the first openly gay president. How cool is that? Not just cool, but let’s also be honest – this whole “gay” thing will eventually become irrelevant in the overall scheme of things, nobody will care what anyone else gets up to as the older generations die off, so we’d be seen as a progressive nation, eradicating prejudice from our political halls in an attempt to make the world a better place.

Doesn’t this sound a lot better than the current stereotypes the world seems all too keen to attach to us?
I think so.

The man had style, the man was an excellent public speaker and motivator, but his flaw was one which none of us can claim to be immune to – skeletons which reside, ironically, in the closet.

Jeebus once said –
“Let he who is without skeletons cast the first stone”, or words to that effect, if indeed he ever said anything at all.

If we’re to go into detail about the latest “revelation” regarding actions undertaken on behalf of a previous lover who’d been charged with statutory rape in Israel, it gets a little fuzzy, on a moral level. Should we cut off all ties with friends and family who’ve done something wrong? Should we not appeal to a justice system who are traditionally severe and over the top with their punishments, to show leniency to our loved ones?

In my opinion, the error Norris made was not to try help his ex-lover, but the fact he used his company stationary to do so – and his company at the time was the country.

This was a long time ago, and it’s clear it has only come to light now in an attempt (and a successful one at that) to derail his campaign. THIS is what scares me about the backwardness of this little island, and resembles some sneaky tactics and nonsense which was employed to ruin Barack Obama in the US. If this “scandal” had come to light when it happened, or indeed when it was discovered, then maybe David Norris would have resigned from the public eye there and then.

As it stands, this information was withheld, or “lost”, and unleashed at a time when the fear of having a gay president was choking the parochial gullet of this backward, shit-hole of a country.

3 Comments:

Sir, – An ill-advised letter written by the front-runner in the presidential campaign, in relation to a criminal prosecution of an Israeli dissident two decades ago, is leaked to the press and seems likely to scupper his campaign.

We are told that a 22-year-old blogger released this information into the public domain as payback for Senator Norris’s “outspoken criticism of Israel”. Whether or not, as also reported, the representatives of Israel were involved in any capacity, this is a disturbing principle, even within the rough and tumble of national and international politics.

Over the past decade, the state of Israel has become increasingly tone-deaf to the advice of even its friends, and increasingly aggressive in attempts to silence its critics. That its supporters should resort to shadowy tactics to punish Mr Norris for speaking out on what many consider gross human rights violations is a case in point.

More disturbing is the fact that this occurred within the context of a campaign to elect the president of a sovereign state.

Whether orchestrated by representatives of Israel or by its supporters, the cynical manipulation of democratic process inevitably recalls the recent use of stolen Irish passports by the state of Israel to facilitate its campaigns of assassination.

The violations of Irish law, neutrality, and sovereignty entailed in this have put the lives of many Irish citizens who travel in politically unsettled parts of the world at risk, my own included.

Should it be demonstrated that a foreign power is once again attempting to meddle in sovereign Irish affairs, it is to be hoped that the Taoiseach will address the matter as robustly and impressively as he did Vatican attempts to interfere with the exercise of Irish law.

Mr Norris clearly has some very serious explaining to do. However, in these circumstances, to deny him an appearance on the ballot paper would be to capitulate to those who have little respect for Irish democracy or sovereignty.

In the end, surely it must be for the Irish people to decide the merits or demerits of both the man and his presidential bid. – Yours, etc,